


Beneath the Rubble

by Cantatrice18



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Amnesia, Character Study, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 12:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15557580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantatrice18/pseuds/Cantatrice18
Summary: Kaori survives Mistress 9's attack, but when she wakes in the hospital her memories are fractured and missing. An odd woman waits by her bedside, a woman with haunting eyes who seems more interested in Kaori than a stranger ought to be.





	Beneath the Rubble

In the end, the vast and empty silence they'd feared would engulph the world turned out to be less of an apocalypse and more like a battle of wills. Sailor Moon versus Mistress 9, two great champions of light and dark. But with the triumph of good came the realization that life could continue on. The final battle had yielded no casualties. All the warriors on both sides had survived intact. 

All but one: a pale, black-clad figure with long limbs and startling red hair, buried beneath the rubble of Tomoe's home. Once known as Kaolinite, then as Kaori, the woman's eyes were tightly closed, her muscles stiff. Betrayed by the mistress she'd served, left for dead by the man who'd given her a second chance at life, she lay senseless among the rubble as death circled closer and closer.

And then she was awake, the fluorescent lights of a hospital room glaring down at her, making her eyes water. She blinked and turned her head away, wincing as her body protested the movement. The white walls surrounding her contained framed photos of placid landscapes. A magazine rack with brightly-colored volumes stood by a pair of chairs for visitors. In the further of the two chairs sat a woman, dark skinned, with long green hair and red earrings shaped like chevrons. Her gaze was level, her expression pensive as she surveyed the hospital bed and the patient within it. Kaori knew instantly that this woman was a stranger; she would not have forgotten such a woman. The visitor stood and approached her bedside, dark eyes unreadable. "You feel better."

It was a statement, not a question. Kaori nodded and tried to speak. Nothing came out. The woman frowned, reaching forward with one graceful brown hand. Immediately Kaori felt coolness caress her throat and descend to settle in her chest. She swallowed and took a deep breath. "What happened?" 

"There was a gas explosion. A building collapsed, with you inside." The woman's voice was bland, but her eyes were sharp, probing. "Can't you remember?"

Kaori thought back. When she came right down to it, she had no memory at all of the accident. Furthermore, she had no real memories to speak of for the past few years. Childhood, yes, university, yes, and after that...it all became fuzzy, sepia toned. "No, I can't remember," she said softly.

The words sparked a strange, yet oddly familiar feeling within her, a longing mixed with sadness. Loneliness. The white room suddenly seemed oppressive, horribly sterile and inhuman. She did not even notice how fast her breathing had become until she heard the whisper of fabric and felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder. The woman had left her comfortable chair and now knelt at Kaori's side, her perfect brows knit with concern. "Tell me what you see."

The oddness of the request barely had time to register before Kaori's thoughts began to whirl. Pictures appeared: a grand house, halfway to being a mansion; a dark hallway with a single unmarked door at the end; a table of medical instruments, the smallest scalpel stained with the crimson of fresh blood. The final image pressed upon her eyes, unshakeable and glaring. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the image begin to fade, blurring around the edges like a watercolor. The sharp jagged pain inside her faded too, replaced by a calm that was neither happiness or sadness. She could still feel the weight of the stranger's hand on her shoulder. "What are you?" she breathed.

The pressure on her shoulder lifted as the woman stood once more. The light from the fluorescents above them cast the woman's face into deep shadow. "You must be tired," she murmured. "Sleep now. Try to forget the world."

As if in answer to the woman's words, Kaori's eyelids began to flutter. Exhaustion hit her like a wave. Oblivion overtook her, and she fell back onto the bed as though struck by falling debris. She felt something slide into her hand, a business card of some kind, embossed with a name and phone number. 

When she awoke, she would not remember the woman who had handed her the card. But she kept it close anyway - a memento of someone important, and yet forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2016 during breaks at work and found on an old phone.


End file.
